The significance of the next biography is the information contained about William
Tennent Gordon and Anna Larue (Freehold, New Jersey, then Morgan County, Ohio) as well as
Charles Augustus Gordon, in Crawford County, IL
From: The History of Crawford County - Published in 1900
Orin LaRue Gordon
"Like so many others who were reared upon a farm, Orin LaRue Gordon has returned to
agricultural pursuits after an usually interesting career as a business man along other
lines, and in the second greatest city in the country. He is an excellent farmer and his
experience has taught him the value of system in farming as in any other branch of
industrial activity. That he has brought about very satisfactory results is sufficient
proof of the efficacy of his methods, and the example he sets is being followed by many of
his neighbors. Mr. Gordon was born in Iowa June 27, 1862, a son of Charles A. Gordon, Who
came from Perry County, Ohio, to Crawford County Ill., in 1850.
Charles A. Gordon was born in Monmouth County, N.J., September 18, 1816. His parents were
William T. And Ann (LaRue) Gordon. The former born in New Jersey in 1794 and the latter
born September 23, 1798. While residents of New Jersey at the time Charles A. was born,
about 1818, William Gordon and his family moved by overland route, to Morgan County, Ohio
and there the father died in 1830. Then the mother and her children went to Perry County,
Ohio. Charles A.
Gordon, Then about thirteen years old, was apprenticed to a carpenter for three years. He
worked at this trade and made his home in Perry County, Ohio, until 1850, when he came to
Crawford County, Ill. After his arrival, he bought land in Oblong Township, which he sold
a short time afterward, and moved to Cumberland County, where his wife's parents resided.
From Cumberland County, he moved to Iowa. October 2, 1844, Charles A. Gordon married Mary
Bugh, who died August 12 1851. There were three children of this marriage: William
Lafayette and Francis Gilbert who died and Charles Asbury. On September 2, 1852, Charles a
Gordon married Sarah M. Callahan, daughter of John and Margaret (Brown) Callahan. Mr. and
Mrs. Charles A. Gordon had six children, five boys and one girl. Theodore C., born
September 8, 1853, in Cumberland County, Ill., married Katherine Albin, who bore him three
children and after her death he married Elizabeth Knott; they have one child, and live in
Lonoke, Ark. Ida, born June 22, 1858, in Iowa, married Everett C. Trimble, son of Judge
Trimble of Trimble; They have four boys and two girls and live in Robinson Township. John
O., born in Iowa, August 5, 1860, married Mollie Beabout. They had three children, when he
died September 22, 1905. Later, his widow married W.G. York of Robinson. Orin LaRue is the
next child. Clarence L., born November 25, 1863, in Iowa, married Mary Holt; he has a
daughter and lives in the State of Washington. George E., born June 6, 1868, lives in
Colorado. Charles A. Gordon himself was one of a family of six children: Charles A.,
William T., Elizabeth, Lydia, Austin W. and Mary Jane.
After going to Iowa, Mr. Gordon spent eleven years on a farm of his own, and then went to
the Platte Valley, near Freemont, Neb., but after four years returned to Crawford County,
and settled on the farm in La Motte Township, where Orin Larue Gordon now resides. At the
time of his death he owned 600 acres of fine land, through which the Illinois Central now
runs. The station, which is on the land once owned by him, is named after him, Gordon. Mr.
Gordon was identified with the Republican Party all his life, and he was a lifelong member
of the Methodist Church. Mrs. Gordon is one of the Trustees of the church which is located
on the farm.
The mother of Charles A. Gordon, Mrs. Ann Gordon, after the death of her first husband
married Peter Mcmullen, and by her second marriage had two children: Matilda and Amanda.
After Mr. Mcmullen's death, Mrs. McMullen came to Crawford County, and lived with her
children until she died. Charles A. Gordon died in LaMotte Township, July 18, 1890. The
Gordons are descended from Scotch nobility.
Orin LaRue Gordon first attended schooling a log schoolhouse, in which the floors were
made of puncheons and the seats of rude slabs of wood, but the drilling in the common
branches was excellent. When he was twenty-one, he took a course of study at the
commercial college at Quincy, Ill., and then taught in the business college at Mendota,
Ill., for about a year.he then went to Chicago where he learned stenography and was
employed as a stenographer by several large firms, when he entered the employ of the
Chicago Daily news as private secretary of A. G. Beausnisne at the head of the publishing
department of the paper. Later, he accepted the position of superintendent of circulation
for the Chicago Inter Ocean under H.H. Kohlsaat. Still later he went to Cleveland, Ohio to
Occupy a position on th Daily Press, but in 1896 returned to his old home to take charge
of the farm for his mother. Like his father he is a Republican, and he served for eight
years as postmaster of Gordon. Mr. Gordon is interested in anything that promises to
advance the interests of his community.
In Chicago, October 8, 1889, at the home of his wife's uncle, George E. Plum, Mr. Gordon
married Louise Charlotte Russel, daughter of Dr. William B. and Viola S. (Goodman) Russel,
natives of Vermont and Louisiana, respectively. Mr. Gordon was born in New Orleans,
November 2, 1867. The children born to Mr. And Mrs. Gordon are: Ethelbert Callahan, born
August 18,1890, and Charles Russel, born June 13, 1897."
Submitted by Dan Cheatham